The present invention relates to a manifold valve in which a plurality of solenoid valves is mounted onto a manifold.
In a conventionally and generally known manifold valve, a plurality of solenoid valves communicating with fluid flow paths in a manifold are arranged on the manifold to supply and discharge pressure fluid through the manifold. As the solenoid valves are miniaturized, solenoid operating portions of the respective solenoid valves are fed through an electric circuit on a printed wiring board mounted onto the manifold. In this case, a receiving terminal provided to each the solenoid valve is connected to a feeding connector provided to the board in a plug-in manner simultaneously with mounting of the solenoid valve onto the manifold (see Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-8698, for example).
However, in the above known manifold valve, the board is normally supported on the manifold and each the solenoid valve is mounted to the feeding connector provided to the board in the plug-in manner. Therefore, the board cannot be replaced when the solenoid valves are left mounted onto the manifold. For example, in detaching the printed wiring board for purposes of maintenance, reconditioning, replacement, and the like, the printed wiring board cannot be detached without detaching the plurality of solenoid valves disposed on the manifold. Moreover, the printed wiring on the board is liable to be damaged by external forces caused by contact with other objects and the like. Therefore, it is preferable that the board is provided in a position where the board can avoid contact with other objects to the utmost. However, this also makes it difficult to attach and detach the board alone.
Furthermore, as the solenoid valve is miniaturized, it becomes difficult to provide an indicating light for indicating an operating state of the solenoid valve to the solenoid valve. As a solution to such a problem, a measure such as attaching a casing for retaining indicating lights to the manifold and housing a current-carrying circuit and a board in the casing to thereby prevent the current-carrying circuit and the board from coming in contact with other objects is conceivable. However, as a result of attachment of the casing, the number of parts increases and a manufacturing cost of a device as a whole increases.
The present invention has been made to solve such problems and it is a technical object of the invention to provide a manifold valve in which a receiving terminal of a solenoid valve can be connected in a plug-in manner to a feeding connector on a board mounted to the manifold when the solenoid valve is mounted to the manifold and the board can be attached to and detached from the manifold without detaching the solenoid valves to thereby facilitate replacement, maintenance, and reconditioning of the board.
It is another technical object of the invention to provide a manifold valve in which contact of printed wiring on the board with other objects can be prevented to the utmost without increasing cost by housing the board in a casing or the like.
It is another technical object of the invention to provide a manifold valve in which indicating lights which are for indicating operating states and are difficult to provide to the solenoid valves are not retained on a casing or the like but are provided onto the board disposed such that the printed wiring can be prevented from coming in contact with other objects to thereby simplify a structure while facilitating visual recognition of the lights from outside to clearly show the operating states of the respective solenoid valves.
To achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a manifold valve comprising a manifold valve long in one direction, a plurality of solenoid valves arranged and placed on a solenoid valve installing face of the manifold, and a board formed with an electric circuit for feeding these solenoid valves.
Each the solenoid valve includes a valve portion containing a valve member and a solenoid operating portion for driving the valve member and is mounted onto the installing face with the solenoid operating portion projecting on a side of a first side face of the manifold.
The board has such a length as to cover a plurality of solenoid valves and is mounted to the first side face of the manifold under the solenoid operating portion such that the board can be attached and detached while leaving the solenoid valves mounted on the manifold, feeding connectors and indicating lights being respectively provided in positions on the board corresponding to the respective solenoid valves.
Each the feeding connector is disposed in such a position as to be connected to a receiving terminal of the solenoid valve in a plug-in manner simultaneously with mounting of the solenoid valve to the manifold and each the indicating light is disposed in such a position as to be able to be visually recognized from above the solenoid valve while leaving the solenoid valve mounted on the manifold.
According to a concrete structural form of the invention, the board is detachably mounted to the first side face of the manifold by a bolt, can be moved up and down along the first side face independently of the solenoid valves in attachment and detachment of the board, and is provided in such an orientation that the feeding connectors on the board and the receiving terminals of the solenoid valves are connected or separated to and from each other by moving the board up or down.
In the invention, it is preferable that the feeding connectors and the indicating lights are mounted in two rows in upper and lower positions on the board and that each the indicating light is mounted to project sideways from the board at least by the same distance as a height of the feeding connector.
According to the invention, the board has a wide portion where a board width is expanded upward on one end side in a longitudinal direction of the board, a multipolar one-operation wiring connector is mounted in a vertical orientation to the wide portion, and the connector and the respective feeding connectors are electrically connected through the electric circuit on the board.
Moreover, the wide portion of the board is fixed to the manifold through a holder having substantially the same length as the connector.
In a preferred structural form of the invention, one end of the board is fixed through the folder with a gap between the manifold and the board and the other end of the board is fixed through a spacer with a gap between the manifold and the board.